The “cheese sequence” – tracking back – is what’s on the
cheese plate, milk, the milk cow and the grass she
crops-chews-cuds-digests-etc., the soil the grass grows in and takes its
nutrients from (and the rain of course), the underlying geology.

They’ve all got their own individual character. And
everything depends on everything else.
One set of individual characters, – grass, soil, earth, alkalinity,
underlying geology, etc. – coming together, adds up to cheddar in Cheshire and
Cornish Blue in Cornwall and Wensleydale in north Yorkshire, etc.

Same principle applies to London coffee houses in the great
era of London coffee houses.

That’d be the late 17th (late) and 18th
centuries.

The character of a London neighbourhood by and large
determined the character of its coffee houses.

So you’ve got White’s Chocolate House (as it was originally
– it today is of course the most exclusive gentlemen’s club in town) in St.
James’s. We’ll go there on our Old Palace Quarter walk on Wednesdays & Fridays. And
there’ll certainly be some regaling there – because its history – let alone its
character – is, well, colourful.
But the point is it – and its fellows further down St. James’s Street
and round the corner in Pall Mall – were smack dab in the heart of aristocratic
London. So that meant politics – aristocrats were, after all, “the ruling
class” – and gambling. At White’s members would stake their fortune on the
throw of a dice. Well, why not, they were staking the fortunes of the country –
and the lives and livelihoods of “their countrymen” – on equally dicey stuff.

Moving east you were into Theatreland – the purlieus of
actors, writers, “wits” and prostitutes. So we’ve got Will’s in Russell Street
there in C.G., the hangout for the superstar writer of his era, John Dryden,
and his circle. People who were good with words so, sure enough, it was had the
highest reputation for scintillating, for witty conversation. We’ll sleuth along there on the Sherlock Holmes walk on Fridays.

Heading still further east we’re on our Legal London walk inthe Inns of Court neighbourhood. In one of its many shining moments the Legal
London walk will thread its way along Devereaux Court, home of the Grecian
Court coffee house, home away from home of the best brains in London – the
London learned – members of the Royal Society – off-the-chart IQs – people like
Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley, Hans Sloane, etc. We could have eavesdropped there
but chances are what we overheard would have been over our heads.

And then it’s along Fleet Street, up Ludgate Hill to St.
Paul’s. Our Hidden London walk will end up there. Just as the great biographer
James Boswell liked to end up – well, pitch up – there after his day’s and
evening’s exertions. Specifically,
Child’s coffee house, in St. Paul’s churchyard. It had a much more sober (and
sobering) atmosphere. How could it have been otherwise being next door to St.
Paul’s cathedral? A sobering atmosphere that was presumably calming, steadying,
atoning for Boswell and his ilk. You can hear Boswell talking to himself,
“Phew! It’s Saturday night – it’s been a week of ‘luscious fatigues’ – it’s now
beeline time for Child’s and spot of R & R and atoning.”

The character, the variety of London’s neighbourhoods. Of
its history. Endlessly fascinating.

A
London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your
guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all
London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.